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77-Year-Old Woman Held at Detention Center, Facing Possible Sentencing

Aug. 22, 2018 |   By a Minghui correspondent in Lanzhou, Gansu Province

(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Jianhua, a 77-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Lanzhou, Gansu Province, went missing on July 19, 2018. It is now confirmed that she was arrested by the police and is currently held at Lanzhou No.1 Detention Center.

This is the second time that she has been arrested within the last 12 months. She is facing possible sentencing by the local court for not giving up her faith.

Ms. Zhang was originally arrested for practicing Falun Gong on July 28, 2017. She was held for 15 days of administrative detention and then released on bail on August 11.

The Qilihe District Procuratorate indicted her and submitted her case to the Qilihe District Court in October 2017.

The court scheduled a hearing for Ms. Zhang on December 29, 2017. Because she was suffering from physical discomfort and unable to walk, the hearing was canceled.

The court informed Ms. Zhang's son on February 22, 2018 that they had scheduled another hearing on February 28.

Ms. Zhang attended the hearing with her daughter and daughter-in-law on February 28. The presiding judge went over the procedure quickly in 30 minutes and didn't allow her to make a statement. The judge also admitted that he didn't look at the evidence listed by the prosecutor in her case document. Ms. Zhang went home after the hearing.

It is unclear whether a verdict was rendered before the police arrested her again in July.

Because of practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang was sentenced to one year of forced labor in 2008.